Infanticide in Non-Human Primates
Introduction
Infanticide, derived from two names (infant homicide) is a situation where a primate intentionally kills its infant or that of another one. In human no-pirates, infanticide is most likely to occur at a time when the primates kill their younger ones or the infants of the other primates in the jungle. Currently, five critical hypotheses are used or proposed to be used regarding the explanation of such a process. The theories include exploitation, resource competition, sexual selection, parental manipulation, and social pathology. Therefore, factors such as human encroachment do not necessarily count as far as infanticide is concerned (Alvarez & Di Fiore et al., 2015). The human encroachment falls under the classification of exploitation, which is just one among several examples. This paper seeks to explore the possible causes of infanticide, other than exploitation by human beings, therefore finding the real problem of the matter.
Human Encroachment and Exploitation
Although there are several other means in which infanticide is likely to occur, human encroachment stands to be among them. Infanticide in non-human pirates is expected to take place when human beings get to either benefit directly from the animal, or when they decide to use the victim for other purposes. The victim of infanticide may be used as food, as a prop about the maternal experience, or as a way of protective aggression (Borries, 2016). At the end of it, one would realize that several non-primate infants have been killed. If not controlled, this is an act that would most definitely lead to the extinction of individual animals.
In some cases, human beings may take the lactating non-primate infants from the mother, making it starve. Hence it would end up dying. However, in as much as human encroachment is likely to cause a significant impact regarding non-primates infanticide, it cannot be counted as the main activity that would lead to infanticide.
Resource Competition
In the jungle, researchers have noted that it is about the struggle for the fittest, for individuals to survive, getting sufficient food. In some parts of the habitats, it should be noted that due to inadequate resources, the non-primates have to compete before they can get adequate food for survival. This is deemed a significant problem regarding infanticide. When the adult non-primates are not too aggressive, their infants may end up being hungry for quite sometimes, which equally may result in death. Due to resource competition, research shows that most female chimpanzees are likely to be more aggressive towards the lower ranking class of their family. The action of the high ranking members of the non-primate groups dealing with the lower ranking members is mainly a result of the stiff competition that may be in the habitat (Palombit, 2015). It should also be noted that when the game is high, most times, infants are likely to suffer more. The race for resources is also a significant factor that would lead to the killing of infants of another type of species, and this is known as inter-species infanticide. In most places whenever there is depletion of resources, this has been deemed the leading cause of infanticide.
Parental Manipulation/Maternal Infanticide
The killing of the infants by their mothers has been reported a handful of times, showing how rare this situation would take place. For example, it should be noted that the maternal infanticide has only been reported once among the brown mantled tamarins. Therefore, this means that it is on infrequent occasions that the non-primate adults would kill their infants. Even when such happens, it has been noted to be accidental.
Additionally, studies indicate that the maternal infanticide is likely to take place at a time when the mother assesses the probability of the infant to survive, and on finding that it less. Mostly, the assessment is likely to be done based on the history of the species. In as much as there have no apparent reasons for maternal infanticides, one factor remains that it is likely to take place when there is too much competition, or at a time when the mother sees minimal chances of the species to survive (Yao & Yu et al., 2016). Parental manipulation can therefore not be mentioned as a leading cause of infanticide since in most cases, it has been pointed out to be as a result of accidents.
Sexual Selection/Competition
The behavior is mostly observed in the langurs as non-primate species. Mostly, the infanticides are likely to increase the reproductive success of the male species, especially when he gets to take over new troops. There is a theory that the male species would kill the infants for them to dominate their female counterparts (Hausfater & Hrdy, 2017). To a greater extent, this has been observed in marmosets, which do such actions to enable the female species to copulate with them. At the end of it, the lactating mothers would son develop the urge for sexual intercourse. Therefore, this is a strategy that is used by the non-primates to maintain the usual dominance against the female species.
Social Pathology
In mammals, it is noted that the interaction between different sexes is usually limited to either copulation or the female estrous alone. However, when it comes to the non-human primates, the male and female bond is generally likely to go past the estrous (Borries, 2016). The social relationship that exists between the male and the female primates is what to a greater extent leads to the protection of male infanticide. It is believed that sexual intercourse would most likely create a bond between the two species, making it hard for male infanticide to take place.
In conclusion, it should be noted that however much human encroachment has been deemed to have a significant capacity when it comes to infanticide, there are many other ways in which infanticide takes place. Therefore, exploitation by human beings is just but an example of the factors that are likely to cause infanticide among the non-human primates. Additionally, it can be seen that the main threat to infanticide amongst the non-human primates is competition. Out of game, it becomes tough for infants to survive, even though their mother would strive to see such happening.